Over six years ago, I weighed in on the use of mobile phones onboard commercial airline flights. Back then, I was for it. Today, I’m still for it.
In-Flight Cell Phone Calls: I’m Still For It…
JSX now allows the use of mobile phones in-flight via internet calling. In making this change, JSX becomes the first US carrier to allow the use of telephones in-flight since the GTE/Verizon Airfone days of yesteryear.
Despite warnings of increased air rage, I remain in favor of allowing the discretionary use of onboard telephone calls, particularly if it would be limited to certain flights. Fears over the occasional obnoxious traveler do not supersede the broader benefit that would be made available to all travelers if cell phone use was permitted.
The good news for those who love silence onboard is that the widespread availability of wi-fi means that most business can be documented via text message or email. But there are occasions when phone calls are necessary and I do not think it will nearly be as bad as people imagine.
Thus, what I wrote over six years ago remains largely true today, as far as I can tell. However, I’d welcome your thoughts on the issue as well.
Below are my original thoughts on the matter, which were first published on December 12, 2016.
Should cell phone calls be allowed onboard airplanes? I say YES.
I was awakened last Friday morning to a call from Fox News with an urgent request–can you come into the studio this morning to speak to Shepard Smith about using mobile phones onboard airplanes? I agreed and after finding out I was in favor of using cell phones onboard, the producer warned me that Shepard was against it. The debate was on!
I shaved, suited up, and was driven down to Fox News. Makeup was applied and just as I was ready to sit down in front to the camera, President-Elect Trump started talking…and talking…and talking. What was supposed to have been brief remarks in Louisiana turned into a 40-minute speech. Worse than a bump from an oversold flight, I was bumped off the air! But I can still make the argument to you why cell phones onboard airplanes will not be the end of the world and are actually a GOOD thing.
Onboard Cell Phone Conversations Have Already Been Taking Place for Years Without Drama
For years, carriers in Europe, the Middle East, and Australia have allowed onboard mobile phone access and we have not seen fights break or even tempers flare. This argument I hear all the time – we cannot allow cell phones because there is always “that guy” who won’t shut up and will eventually aggravate “that other guy” and lead to cursing and the exchange of blows.
Folks, this is a straw man. I know Americans are a special breed and flight attendants are deadset against the allowance of cell phone calls, but consider the positive side of putting working cell phones in the hands of troublemakers: first, they are going to speak into their phone instead of speak to you. Second, if they’re talking on their phone it probably means they are not drinking or kicking the seat in front of them. I actually think much of the rage onboard planes derives from being helplessly disconnected from the ground: being able to speak to a friend or loved one in a tense situations like a crammed airplane will cool tensions, not inflame them.
Airfones Prove the Issue is Price, Not the Calls Themselves
Remember that for more than two decades there were telephones in nearly every row of an aircraft called Airfones. With the swipe of your credit card you could dial anywhere in the world.
The problem was not the phones, it was the price — at $20/minute (eventually the rate dropped to $2/minute for Verizon subscribers), is Mona Lisa Vito really going to gab with Vincent LaGuardia “Vinny” Gambini over the wedding? Probably not.
Don’t think that onboard cell phone calls will be free: the airlines are not stupid. JetBlue charges $10/hr for wi-fi fast enough to conduct Skype or other wi-fi based calling [editor’s note: wi-fi is now free on JetBlue]. That’s better than $20/minute but that will still keep onboard conversations to only the ones that truly matter…most of the time at least.
Planes are Already Loud
Screaming babies, engines, and a loud din of conversations are already part of flying commercial. Noise cancelling headphones help to block out most ambient noise and will block out cell phone conversations too. For those without such headphones, you won’t be able to distinguish between a cell phone call and conversations between passengers if you can even hear it over the humming engines.
When I flew Emirates from Los Angeles to Dubai in the spring, a carrier which allows onboard cell phone calls, there was a gentleman two rows ahead of me who spoke on his phone for several hours early on in the flight. I could barely hear him at first then tuned him out completely in just a few minutes.
Phone Calls, Like Wi-Fi, Will Make Us More Productive Onboard
Onboard internet transformed my travel patterns and made me a much more productive person. I used to take only late-night flights on transcontinental routes because I could not afford to be disconnected during peak work hours from the internet. Now I can travel during the day and keep up on work and my clients via onboard internet.
Sometimes, though, I still opt for late night flights because I need to be available to clients in case they run into any hiccups when flying or booking tickets. It sure would be nice to have the ability to make and receive calls on an international flight. As I shared about a recent United flight, I would have paid whatever they wanted in order to use a phone. It ruined my flight to be disconnected!
Phone Calls Can Save Lives…And Marriages
Here’s a draconian example, but last year a woman flying Southwest from New Orleans to Milwaukee received a text message from her husband saying he was going to kill himself. She sent him a text message trying to dissuade him but the door to her aircraft had closed and the safety demonstration was over — a FA sternly ordered her to shut off her phone. By the time she arrived in Milwaukee, her husband had already committed suicide.
Would she have been able to talk her husband out of it if she could have called him? Maybe or maybe not, but I wish she had been given the chance to try.
But even for the road warriors who are away for three out of fours weeks per month, imagine how nice it would be to FaceTime their spouse and children during a long flight. Imagine how nice it would be to say, “Good night honey. I love you. Sleep tight,” face-to-face rather than via email or iMessage. We should be encouraging more conversations like that.
Government Should Focus on Safety
The Federal Government has a vital role in managing air traffic control and ensuring that airlines properly maintain aircraft. Do we really need the government micro-managing airline wi-fi calling policy?
Note that although we have yet to see a definitive study that mobile phone signals cause a disturbance with any onboard aircraft equipment, safety does not really factor into this discussion (other than potential air rage)–we have moved into the realm of wi-fi calling where there is no threat of any kind to the safety of the aircraft.
There will never be a government mandate that cell phones be allowed onboard. It will be up to each airline and Delta and JetBlue have already said it will not allow onboard phone calls if in-flight calls become legal. Consumers will be able to choose what airline works best for them and that is the way the market is supposed to work.
The Department of Transportation reasons that airlines should be compelled to disclose to consumers in advance if their flight will permit passengers to make voice calls using wireless devices and assert they have a statutory authority to enforce that.
The Department believes that consumers would be unfairly surprised and harmed if they learned only after the purchase of a ticket (or, worse, after boarding the aircraft) that the carrier permits voice calls on its flights. If voice calls are allowed on a flight, the DOT proposal requires disclosure the first time that flight is offered or identified to a consumer. No disclosure is required if the flight does not allow voice calls.
I see this as unnecessary: the airlines that offer onboard cell phone calling market it as a selling point:
Airlines do not need to be told to showcase which onboard amenities they will be offering.
How Onboard Cell Phone Calling Will Actually Look
Just like not all flights were smoking, it is highly unlikely you will see cell phone calls permitted on redeye flights or throughout the plane.
The problem with smoking and non-smoking sections was that the whole airplane still smelled like an ashtray and I recognize there will be similar concerns for cell phone and quiet sections onboard planes.
A more likely solution might be to have some flights be wholly cell-phone free while others allow cell phone calls throughout the plane. Think about the many carriers that offer service between LA and New York, some almost hourly. Why not have the 4pm flight cell-phone free and the 5pm flight with cell-phones? Just like the “Men’s Only” United flights with steak dinners and cigar smoking, marketing a cell-phone flight will not only steer consumers toward their desired flight but also have the positive effect of clustering those who like peace and quiet onto one plane and those more talkative or prone to make calls onto another.
The impetus for this discussion is not that any government policy concerning cell phone usage has changed, but the DOT’s is considering whether to regulate wi-fi calling. Right now wi-fi calling is in a regulatory gray area so a carrier could indeed choose to allow onboard calls even now.
CONCLUSION
In the end, cell phone conversations onboard airplanes will not be the end of the world and anyone who argues that pandaemonium will break out must articulate why this hasn’t happened throughout much of the world that already allows cell phone calls on planes. Not only will onboard calling lead to more productivity and help people speak to the people they need to (instead of you), it will probably not even be something that most are aware of when flying due to headphones, crying babies, and engines.
What do you think?
Special thanks to Gary Leff for helping me think through this issue and coaching me before my (cancelled) interview.
“Planes are Already Loud”
ha ! guess you’ve never heard people from the ghettos speak on their Nextel phones then.
nononononononono. The examples of other noise sources pale in comparison with what American’s will do if they can get on the phone during a flight. I travel a lot, and babies crying are < 10% of my flights. Engine and other noise related to the fact that you are flying are just white noise which your brain (and noise-cancelling headphones) reject over time.
The same people who are ahead of you at stoplights, so busy being on the phone that they didn't notice the traffic light turned green — those people will be sitting ahead of you, behind you, and next to you.
Flights are one of the last places where I can concentrate, uninterrupted, on my work. A few years ago my manager needed me "to finish that report by Friday." I replied that I'd book a flight to Heathrow to finish the report. He was confused as to why I needed input from our London office; I clarified that I didn't need to talk to the London office, I simply needed 9 hours where he wouldn't interrupt me with hourly crises. {Needless to say, he didn't approve my travel requisition..}
The reason that other countries, other flights, don't seem to have problems with people on cell phones is that American's are particularly rude when it comes to certain activities, and I believe that we cherish our cell phones much more than people in other countries.
What he said!
Being inconsiderate of others in public is not uniquely American.
Older Chinese lady just the other day in the gate area, blabbing away with phone in SPEAKERPHONE mode at max volume.
No. No. No. You are deluding yourself when you compare a one-sided phone conversation going on next to you to a conversation between two people next to you. People talk louder on phones than they do to a person inches from their face. And they turn slightly toward that person (and away from you). Add to that the weird way our brains pay more attention to a one-sided conversation than to the normal rhythm of two people exchanging remarks.
Why is saying goodbye or goodnight at 4pm in flight superior to an actual in-person exchange earlier in the day at/before the airport? Would you fire up Skype in the middle of your meeting to say goodnight to your kids? No, you recognize that your colleagues would be astounded at your self-centered rudeness. Why treat your companions in the crowded metal tube with less courtesy? It’s childish to expect the whole world to cater to your schedule.
Your draconian example is tragic but an extreme and rare and occurrence, and I recognize that kind hearts will want to keep that from happening. But you can always find a one-in-a-million example that is the exception to any rule. That doesn’t produce good policy.
If an airline wants to have an “emergency phone booth” (or even “emergency phone access”) that’s fine with me; I even kind of like having such a thing as long as it was rarely-used, but a policy allowing every rude, self-important loudmouth to make everyone’s cramped flying experience even MORE uncomfortable is ridiculous.
This^
Also, I feel bad for the example above, but she also had the opportunity to ask FA to turn back to the gate due to an emergency. That’s what she should have done. Would it have helped, who knows. It’s a tragic situation, but we don’t know if it would or wouldn’t have helped.
I’m fine with an emergency call booth, or maybe allow someone to use their phone in the lavatory for 5 minutes at the time if absolutely necessary. (To be considered on a time basis for each individual circumstance.) Outside of that, no. Also, people on speakerphones are the worst, and that’s where it would head.
Spoken like someone who has ZERO experience on the subject matter. Speak to any frequent flyer over 50 who actually lived through the hell of Airfone-enabled loud pompous conversations and you will get the real scoop: voice call should be banned. And airplanes today are much quieter, especially the A350 and 787, so it would be even worse.
As far productivity, you have Wi-Fi and all the messaging you can muster, so there’s no productivity hit from the inability to both bother and bore your neighbor with an hour long sales pitch over the phone. Same with keeping in touch with loved one, which really don’t need to hear from you in a plane anyway.
This post is just idiotic — exudes a know it all kid who really knows nothing.
A big fat NO! You make it sounds like your life and your business are more important than your seatmates that have to deal with you for the next: one hour? three hours? or its 14 hours? Get the picture? Stop thinking that you are the only pebble on the beach.
NO! If you’ve ever ridden on light rail or a public bus, let alone walked down a city street, people are shouting on their phones constantly and could care less if it bothers you. As airfare has gone down, those with little respect for others have taken to flying in droves. Allowing them or anyone for that matter, to use their phones in a flying tin can is, in America, a recipe for disaster. Further, your business can survive without your input for some hours, while the time on the plane is a good opportunity for business travelers to take some downtime. Honestly, you can live without your phone for the length of a plane ride – and so can everyone else. Give us a break please!
Six years ago, I would have agreed with you. Today, in this age where people refuse to use headphones/shout into their iPhones with the speakerphone on at full volume in public spaces? I’m no longer on board.
I see one comment from 2016 mentioned a phone booth. I guess they could turn a lav or two into that. But agree on no phone calls at seats.
Unless they use the portable “Cone of Silence” in flight, I won’t hear of it!!
NO,NO,NO! Absolutely not. It’s bad enough we have to endure people in the gate area who do not know what indoor voices are or who are playing their devices at hockey game level. We do not need more loud noise. End of story.
Since every week your blog shows the weekly fistfights on planes you’ll be showing them DAILY once phone calls are allowed. You’ll change your mind when two people are pummeling each other over a phone call and they tumble on top of you, or god forbid, on top of your family.
Worst. Idea.Ever
Hey, he wants it for revenue generation. Duh.
This will become the new masks as the flashpoint for conflict. The FA’s will have to become the phone police. It will be a disaster.
I just sat next to a man that was told to stop speaking on his phone by a FA. Loud, inappropriate conversation and a lack of manners to his fellow passengers. Cell phone usage on planes=bad idea.
No, please no, no way……. even the thought of allowing calls on planes makes me never want to fly again.
Please no ! What is so important? Are you are surgeon?
Respectfully I think the primary difficulty will lie with JSX allowing not only voice calls but also FaceTime and Zoom. The younger you are the more likely you are to prefer FaceTime or equivalent over a simple voice call. Having someone seated next to you not only speaking but posing for a camera that may also end up recording images of others, yourself included, in the cabin could prove far more problematic to some. Worse yet would be Zoom meetings that are likely to go on for some time. As we are all aware much of the business world has switched over to meeting virtually. If meeting attendees are not forced to schedule around flights they will likely choose based on convenience and many will deem there to be no more convenient time than while they are being chauffeured from point A to B.
I have meetings of my own to attend and no interest whatsoever in sitting in on yours.
Also cue up the live streaming influencers wandering the front of the plane copping open seats in business just for a shot.
Fox News LOL
Not no, but HELL NO. I have noise cancelling headphones and those don’t block everything. Loud conversations, screaming babies, etc still come through. (Sony 1000XM5’s, FWIW)
Just about a month ago some jerk we held the plane for due to a connection got on doing exactly what you said, facetiming with his children/wife and it was annoying. Would it start a fight, i doubt it, but it was an annoyance until the FA had him cut the conversation off. He was given a solid 5 minutes before she did. Talking isn’t really a problem, and people typically regulate their voice when talking to a seat-mate. People don’t do that with phones. I don’t know why, but they seem to have an issue with talking louder than normal on phones. Just find karen in the grocery store talking and you will see what I mean. If they want to put in a “cell phone” room, like a bathroom, be my guest. Charge for it by the minute, or whatever. But unless it is sound deadened, I don’t want it. The literal only time I can think of that maybe a short exception could be made are long haul flights over 8 hours. Even then, I’m not convinced.
Picture this………You’re on a five hour flight, in your favorite aisle or window seat. The passenger next to has already down 5 drinks in the airport bar and now has boarded, sitting next to you. Proceeds to have another drink inflight, and starts chatting on his or her cell phone…..laughing out loud, carrying on with ten different calls of his or her best friends for the next 3 hours. Let me know if you still support this after a flight like this, and you’re trying to get some work done or take a nap. AND IT WILL HAPPEN!
This☝️
My 2 cents in that I have google voice and there’s a feature in it that allows me to switch to IP based telephony which is invaluable when I’m in an airport where I don’t have a SIM card. I connect to WIFI and I’m “on the air” at 2 cents a minute to the USA. I think most of the unwashed are NOT aware of this which is a good thing because unlike the old Airfones where only the rich or stupid could jabber on for hours.
As Matt pointed out, there are too many people out there who increasingly are rudely using their phones on speaker and playing games or watching videos already and they’d probably not be much more polite skyping which, I presume is blocked (although I have ways around that, wink.)
Gotta keep the secrets secret 😉
Cell phones on planes are ok, it’s something we have to get use too for day time flights, however what is the plane etiquette for people who snore???? I couldn’t sleep last week because someone in the cabin was snoring for most of the flight?? Matt, you could provide some insight in a future blog post!
Lots of arguments for and against… but there is no way airlines will set up new seating systems to accommodate those who are so important that the world cannot survive without them accessible. If they were that important, they would have an assistant 10 feet behind them carrying the phone.
ABSOLUTELY NOT. NEVER. The last thing I want to hear is some self-important blowhard talking for six hours straight in the seat next to me. What world do you live in where we should bombarded by people’s inability to just enjoy a few hours of relative quiet.
NO!! Please, no!!
I miss the airphone days. I could make a coordinating call so my dog was groomed and delivered closely matching my eta. Through email, text I was never as reassured as actually speaking to the staff. And I am pro-phone. I cannot see the angst getting any worse.
It would be obnoxious. What is more, I have never found it necessary since Wi-Fi and texting were introduced. Eight hour flights with Wi-Fi but no phone access have been some of my most productive days.
Absolutely no.
Lol everyone acting like they don’t want to listen to the blowhard businessman drone on for hours into his phone seems to forget that if he’s not talking into the phone, he’ll be talking to you… or the person across from you… or the FA… or himself. Either way, the person is the problem, not the phone.
And there are already daily fights on planes. Yet other airlines and people manage to survive inflight voice calls just fine… almost like the problem is the people and not the phone… like many things in the US
Did you get drunk on a flight and let someone else write this post?
Americans are not smart enough to understand if certain flights allow cell phones use and others don’t. I can foresee the fights on non cell phone flights. Either allow it on all flights or don’t allow access. Besides only older people seem to use a cell phone to actually talk.
I do see issues with video calls and meeting apps. Unless you use headphones, people tend to put these into speaker mode.
I was in the Tampa Admirals Club last week and watched an older couple spend probably 45 minutes Face-timing young children who I assumed were their grandchildren. The kids were yelling and shouting, grandma and grandpa were laughing and hooting and everybody anywhere close was treated to the show. The culprits cleared out an entire section of the club. It was obvious they didn’t give a spit about the fact they were bothering people. They were selfish oafs and I have no doubt they’d do it on a plane. Ban phones on planes. Please!
“Screaming babies, engines, and a loud din of conversations are already part of flying commercial.”
I don’t know what you’re flying on but noise is the exception rather than the norm. Engine sounds are a consistent white noise so that comparison is weak. Most passengers keep to themselves and respect the sonic boundaries of others. I do remember when planes had phones at every seat and thankfully the high cost kept their usage rare, limited mostly to people rebooking after missed connections or arranging ground transportation. If you were using an in-air phone, you likely had a really good reason to do it.